Fugitive arrested inside nursing home

The Missouri fugitive spotted in Westlake early yesterday morning was arrested inside a nursing home in the city Wednesday afternoon.

The bicycle police said fugitive Brian Adkison was riding when spotted by a motorist Wednesday afternoon. (West Life photo by Kevin Kelley)

A motorist called police around 1 p.m. Wednesday after seeing Brian Adkison, 23, riding a bicycle on Detroit Road near Cahoon Road, police said. Adkison then reportedly ducked into the woods near Cahoon Road and Bryandale Drive. Westlake police, assisted by officers from Avon, Bay Village, Fairview Park, North Olmsted and Rocky River, set up a perimeter in the area in an effort to catch the suspect.

At a Westlake City Council committee meeting Thursday night, Capt. Eric Shanz said two workers at the Huntington Woods Care and Rehabilitation Center tackled Adkison inside the facility while another called 911. The staffers had seen his photo from media reports.

Adkison was uncooperative once in the custody of Westlake police, said department spokesman Capt. Guy Turner, initially refusing to allow his photo or fingerprints to be taken.

At 4:29 a.m. Tuesday morning, a Westlake patrolman tried to question a man later determined to be Adkison while he was sleeping in a pickup truck at the Hampton Inn on Detroit Road. The man took off westbound on Detroit Road into Avon near Avon Commons, where Westlake police called off the pursuit.

According to Shanz, Adkison told police he had been going to Hampton Inns since his escape to take advantage of the hotels’ free continental breakfasts. The fugitive was sleeping in his truck in the hotel parking lot when a patrol office approached and knocked on the window. Adkison immediately drove off, Shanze said.

North Ridgeville police reported a pursuit of the same vehicle 15 minutes later. One of the truck’s tires had been deflated by their stop-sticks, they said. After the vehicle then became disabled, the driver ran off, police said. Adkison was identified as the driver from evidence found in the truck, police explained.

The pickup truck Adkison was driving Tuesday was stolen from West Virginia and carried a license plate stolen from Pennsylvania, police said.

Bond was set at $500,000 for Adkison Thursday in Rocky River Municipal Court. He is being charged with two counts of receiving stolen property for the truck and the license plate, one count of felony fleeing, one count of burglary for stealing the bike and one count of resisting arrest, Turner said.

As of Friday morning, Adkison was still in the Westlake city jail, Turner said, but would likely be transferred to the county jail soon. Decisions to extradite him back to Missouri would be made at the county or state level, Turner said.

Adkison, of Columbia, Mo., escaped from the Caldwell County Detention Center Aug. 10. He faces charges of kidnapping, domestic violence and violating a temporary protection order, police said, and is also wanted in Boone County, Mo., for suspicion of rape and burglary.

The case has garnered significant interest from news media in Missouri, said Turner. The Westlake police department spokesman said he has fielded 15 phone calls and e-mails from reporters form that state in the past day.